Allegations get aide banned from district

By MIA LIGHT (Staff Writer)
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Published: March 21, 2013

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An aide working at Hazleton Area's McAdoo-Kelayres Elementary-Middle School has been barred by school officials from working with district students after allegations surfaced that the man had inappropriate contact with several female students.

The Standard-Speaker received information on the incident from a person who claimed to be the parent of one of the female students the aide allegedly victimized.

District Superintendent Francis X. Antonelli confirmed allegations of inappropriate conduct were made against an aide earlier this month. He said the aide was immediately removed from the McAdoo-Kelayres school and barred from entering any district facility. Police were also notified, Antonelli said.

"When we were made aware of the incident, we immediately contacted law enforcement officials. The incident is still actively under investigation," Antonelli said.

The accused man is not a district employee, the superintendent said. He is an employee of an agency that provides aides to students who have mild disabilities in the classroom, such as attention deficit disorder or autistic Asperger syndrome.

The parent who contacted the Standard-Speaker said the district did not fire the accused man, but transferred him to a different school within the district.

Antonelli said that rumor is not true.

"We do not have the authority to terminate his employment because he is not one of our employees. That is a decision for the agency that employs him. What we can do, and what we have, in fact, done, is suspend him from his TSS duties in the district and tell him in no uncertain terms that he is not to return to the McAdoo-Kelayres school or any other district building. We made it very clear, we do not want this person in any of our buildings," Antonelli said.

The abbreviation TSS stands for "therapeutic support services." The district contracts with several agencies that provide TSS personnel for students with special needs. Antonelli did not have immediately available the name of the agency the accused aide worked through.

According to the parent who contacted the newspaper, the aide had been "playing with several of the girls' hair and touching their abdomens."

He also took photos and videos of female students and questioned them about their home addresses, where their parents work and whether they had boyfriends or if they liked any of the boys in school, the parent said.

He also wrote the names of females students on his arms and wrote their names on file folders and drew hearts around the names, the parent said.

When building administrators became aware of the aide's alleged behavior, a district resource officer - an armed law enforcement official with arrest powers - was called to the building. The resource officer turned the matter over to state police, who brought Luzerne County officials into the investigation, Antonelli said.

Addressing parental concerns, Antonelli said parents or students with questions or concerns are openly invited to contact him at the district's central office.

"I am not shy about talking to any parent who comes to me with concerns on any issue. I will sit down with them and I will discuss any topic they put in front of me," Antonelli said, adding that it is difficult to address concerns of anonymous tipsters.

"If it's an anonymous question, I can go to building principals and get answers to questions, but who do I get back to with the answers?" he said. "If parents really want us to help get answers to their questions, they have to come to me directly."

School board President Brian Earley said Wednesday he was not aware of the incident, but he expressed confidence in Antonelli's response to the allegation.

"I was not aware of the situation. But I trust that our administration is taking the proper legal action," Earley said.

mlight@standardspeaker.com

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